11 virus positive cases confirmed in Dir Lower

F.P. Report

TIMERGARA: Three more Quarntine Centres established in Dir Lower. Deputy District Health Officer and Focal Person for Crises Management Cell Doctor Irshad Ali Roghani Saturday said that five laboratory test have received in 7 samples taken from affected area of Talash.

He said out of those seven cases five cases of Coronavirus have confirmed. He said that 73 suspected patients have reported till then in Dir Lower, in which 43 patients test result have received from laboratory in which 11 Corona virus have confirmed.

He said out of the 36 suspected cases, 23 have been cleared while the results of the 26 other are still waiting from laboratory. He said that district administration and district police workers have decided 83 homes into home Quarantine while thereby 261 people were kept.

First triage centre set up in malakand division at Timergara hospital: The first ever triage centre in Malakand division was set up at district head quarter hospital Timergara. The Lower Dir deputy commissioner Saadat Hassan along with Commandant Dir Task Force Colonel Mujtaba Haidar visited the triage centre and expressed satisfaction on the arrangements. Briefing the officials the hospital MS Dr Shaukat Ali said that suspected patients would be screened at the centre and be sent to isolation while rest of the patients would be admitted to emergency unit. He said the centre was set up with the support of Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) that aimed to isolate corona virus suspects from rest of the patients. The MS said the ICU unit and available ventilators had been functional. He said that social distancing had been considered at the triage centre.

The DTF Commandant Mujtaba Haidar said the administration would take action against elements who were disseminating negative propaganda regarding the pandemic in the district.

Testing laboratory: The Lower Dir political parties, civil society activists and area elders demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mehmood Khan to immediately establish a Corona virus testing laboratory in the region for suspected patients in Malakand division. In their separate statement the JUI-F district emir Ameer Siraj ud Din, JI district emir and former MPA Izaz ul Mulk Afkari, PPP district secretary information advocate Alam Zeb, PTI activist Ali Shah Mishwani and social activists Akbar Khan, Umar Zada and Ibrash Pasha said that Malakand division with more than 5 million population was the largest division in the province and deserved to have a separate testing laboratory for suspected Covid-19 patients. They said that swabs of the suspects from Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Swat, Bunir, Malakand, Shangla and Bajaur were being sent either to Khyber Medical University Peshawar or National Institute of Health Sciences (NIH) Islamabad for laboratory report.

They said the results were sent four or five days later that spread panic and unrest among people of the region. They said that not only the suspected patients but their families too went through mental distress while waiting for results for four/ five days. They demanded of the chief minister Mehmood Khan to take notice of the matter and establish a testing laboratory anywhere in Malakand division so that more people could be tested for corona virus.

Relief sought: The Pakistan People Party Lower Dir chapter demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to provide relief package to deserving people due to lockdown and closure of their work. Speaking at a news conference here the PPP district president and former provincial minister Mehmood Zeb Khan, advocate Alam Zeb, advocate Shahid Jan and others said that daily wagers and low income families were the worst affected of the pandemic. They said the poor families had been waiting for the government relief package for two weeks. The PPP leaders also rejected the Tiger force announced by the government and demanded formation of impartial committees for distribution of relief among poor families.